Matt's Movie Blog

Monday, May 10, 2004

Review: Mean Girls
May 7, 2004; Regal Falmouth #5
* * * 1/2 (out of 4)

I was very, very wrong.

I walked into this movie expecting it to be so ridiculous it was funny. Funny in ways it wasn't supposed to be. I expected something in between the typical teen comedy and the typical SNL-connected movie, which would be the most spectacular train wreck the motion picture industry has ever seen. Instead, what I was pleasantly surprised by was the most honest depiction of high school interactions since American Pie, convesations that were almost always worth a laugh, and Lindsay Lohan proving that Freaky Friday wasn't the fluke some passed it off to be. Color me impressed.

Though never a huge fan of the SNL phenomenon, I admit some great comedic writers have emerged; Al Franken, Mike Judge, and now Tina Fey. The woman knows what's funny. Not only does she present a near-nonstop ride of fresh jokes to keep the audience entertained, but she captures the flow and style of high-school dialogue better than most writers 12 years removed from their subject. Every line out of every character's mouth is believable and fitting, and conversations flow perfectly, mixing in punchlines with casual ease. Also, through all the joking, she tells stories that anyone who ever set foot in high school can relate to - first days, crushes, rumors; everyone lived this.

Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) just moved to the Chicago suburbs from Africa, where she was home-schooled by her anthropologist parents. On her first day of public school, she's thrown head-first into every conflict high school can present to a girl: friends, rumors, crushes, cliques. As she makes friends on both sides of the popularity division, Cady learns quickly that dealing with the average American teenager isn't that much different from confronting African predators: they're unpredictable and dangerous.

Lindsay Lohan drove full-force into this movie to impress any skeptics. Granted, playing 16-year-old Cady Heron wasn't that much of a stretch for her (she was 17 when the movie was filmed), but sometimes the hardest things to show are the ones that hit closest to home. She is very comfortable in what seems to be her own skin, and her confidence makes Cady that much more self-confident and likable. Also notable is Rachel McAdams playing Regina George, leader of "the Plastics" and Cady's rival in the film. With a character who immediately assumes the film title's description, it would be easy to overplay the meanness in Regina and ignore everything else - everyone can think of someone who they didn't think had any other side - but McAdams actually turns her into a real person that the audience can connect to in some insane way by the end.

All around good performances from the entire cast, including Fey and SNL regulars Tim Meadows and Ana Gasteyer, are supported by writing that is as real and accurate as anyone could hope for. Unfortunately, the movie's focus is limited to the high school crowd, and only they might benefit from the message - though no one expects that this movie is going to revolutionize the way high schoolers socialize and interact. For the rest of us, Mean Girls is a fun reminder of how silly things could get when playing by the entirely different set of rules that made up high school. Worth a ticket for a good laugh and a warm feeling.

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